Refrigerators



July 31, 1962 A. H. BANK 3,046,757

REFRIGERATORS Filed April 18, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 flvyavme AMA/1AM A.ADA/VK A. H. BANK REFRIGERATORS July 31, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FiledApril 18, 1960 3,046,757 REFRIGERATORS Abraham H. Bank, 30 Beit St., NewDoornfontein,

Johannesburg, Union of South Africa Filed Apr. 18, 1960, Ser. No. 22,811Claims priority, application Union of South Africa Apr. 30, 195? 1Claim. (Cl. 62251) This invention relates to refrigerators and moreparticularly to refrigerators adapted to accommodate beveragecontainers, such as mineral water bottles.

Known refrigerators of this type comprise a cooling chamber in which thebottles are stacked. In most cases the chamber is provided with a lidwhich either lifts off, swings open or slides open, and for eflicientoperation of the refrigerator the lid is kept closed. The provision of alid or door for the cooling chamber necessarily involves a good deal ofexpense and the continual opening and closing of the chamber is anuisance. An additional drawback of the closed chamber system is thatthe accommodation space for bottles is not great in relation to thetotal volume of chamber required to be cooled.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a refrigerator ofsimple construction which minimises to a large extent the disadvantagesoutlined above.

According to the invention a refrigerator comprises a cabinet at leastone of the sides of which slopes inwardly towards the top, a slopingside being provided with continuous and open hollow metal shelvessloping back- Wardly at an angle of between 7 and 9 to the horizontalplane, the shelves overlapping each other for downward precipitation ofcold air from a higher to a lower shelf and being disposed apartvertically at a distance substantially equal to the diameter of beveragecontainers to be supported thereon, and tubes carrying a coolingfiuidlocated Within the shelves.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference tothe accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a front view of a refrigerator according to the invention,

FIGURE 2 is a side view of the refrigerator,

FIGURE 3 is a side view of a bottle opener and bottle cap collectoradapted to be incorporated into the refrigerator,

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged sectional side view of the refrigerator andFIGURE 5 is a side view of an alternative form of the refrigerator.

In one form of the invention, as illustrated in FIG- URES 1 to 4, therefrigerator comprises a cabinet having two of its opposite sidessloping inwardly and hollow metal shelves are located thereon.

It will be seen from FIGURE 4 that the shelves 10 are adapted to housecooling tubes 11 which enter a shelf at one end and run right along theshelf, leaving the shelf at its other end. Of course, the cooling tube11 may be straight, zig-zagged or in some other shape.

It is essential that the shelves 10 be sloped inwardly so that thebottles do not fall off and also slip easily into position. Althoughalmost any angle may be employed, it has been found that an angle ofabout 7 to 9 to the horizontal is the most satisfactory.

Each shelf 10 has, at either end, an opening, acting to drain the shelfof liquid. The liquid collecting on the shelves, will flow by gravity tothe openings, through which it will fall to the next lower shelf andfrom there to the next lower shelf and so on. At the bottom of thecabinet a gutter 12 is provided to conduct all the collected liquid awayfrom the cabinet,

FIGURE 5 illustrates such an arrangement.

3,046,757. Eatented July 31, 1962 'The shelves 10 are spaced apart adistance substantially equal to the diameter of the bottles or otherobjects to be supported by the shelves. Bottles 13 may be rested on theshelves 10 with their axes at right angles to the length of shelves 10.

A refrigerator motor compressor 22 is provided for distribution throughthe tubes 14 of the cooling fluid to all the shelves 10 of the cabinet.Before entering the hollow shelves 10, the tubes 14 pass along the face15, against which the bases of the bottles will lie, so that this faceis also cooled. A space 1 6 is provided behind the face 15 andinsulation padding 17 provided to minimise heat transfer.

in a refinement of the invention a gadget 18 is provided which isadapted to fit slidably into the cabinet. The gadget 18 comprises anopener 19 for removing crown corks and the remainder serves to catch thecrown corks. When full, the gadget may be emptied.

For advertising purposes a light 20 is provided above the shelves 10,but it will be realized that other lights may be provided at differentpositions depending upon the effect desired.

It will be appreciated that, in certain cases, it will be desirable thatonly one side of the cabinet be sloped and fitted with shelves, as wherethe cabinet is to stand against a wall. In this case, the arrangementmay be regarded as being the cabinet of FIGURE 4, say, out in half.

The refrigeration motor may be included in the cabinet or else may beplaced away from the cabinet. It will be appreciated that onerefrigeration motor may be provided for a bank of cabinets.

In a further refinement of the invention, the cabinet may be fitted withone or more doors 21, which are preferably transparent so that customersare able to observe the bottles on the shelves 10. In the preferred formof the invention, only one door 21 is provided so that certain bottles(for example those containing warm liquids) are separated from the otherbottles, not behind the door, until required for use.

I claim:

A refrigerator comprising a cabinet having at least one side thereofsloping inwardly toward the top, an additional sloping side slopingbackwardly at an angle between 7 and 9 to the vertical plane of saidrefrigerator, a plurality of hollow, continuous and open shelf membershaving the same width and being disposed on said additional sloping sidein substantially perpendicular relationship thereto, said shelf membersoverlapping each other for downward flow of cold air from a higher to alower shelf member, said shelf members being equally disposed apartvertically at a distance to support articles thereon in an inclined andreadily accessible manner, tubes carrying a cooling fluid disposed insaid hollow shelf members to impart coolness thereto, pipe meansdisposed in a hollow portion of said additional sloping sideinterconnecting said tubes, and compressor means connected to said pipemeans.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS777,895 Geraci Dec. 20, 1904 1,576,328 Irwin May 9, 1926 2,209,690Fraser July 30, 1940 2,299,347 Rifkin Oct. 20, 1942 2,499,089 Brill Feb.28, 1950 2,565,795 Amundsen Aug. 28, 1951

